I traced the upholstery in Andre’s car as we sped out of Peel and headed for his place. Considering that I now had to work my way back into the coven, I felt that catching up there would give me the additional opportunity to reacquaint myself with the vampire community—if, that is, they were still willing to have me. Knowing my luck, I’d probably end up as someone’s dinner instead.
“Where exactly is your place these days?” I hadn’t seen Bishopcourt since the night of the fire, but considering the extent of the damage, I couldn’t imagine the place was inhabitable.
Andre took his attention off the road to look at me. The streetlights glinted off of his eyes. “What do you mean?” he asked.
My eyes dropped to his lips, momentarily distracted. I watched them curl in to a smile and my heart rate increased. His smile widened, and I saw his pearly white teeth and a glimpse of fang, which probably meant he was turned on. My own slid out for the billionth time today.
“Where are we going?” I asked again, careful to not nick myself on my fangs.
“Bishopcourt,” he said, not missing a beat.
“Isn’t it . . .” Oh this was awkward. “Didn’t it burn to the ground?” That was the nice way of putting it. We had burned it to the ground—me out of clumsiness, and him out of anger.
“I don’t know if you know this,” he said, “but I have lots of money.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m so impressed.”
“Money can buy lots of things, such as expedited construction.”
Ah, so he’d spent the last month repairing and rebuilding the place. I couldn’t tell if I was more excited or scared at the prospect of seeing Andre’s mansion. I’d loved Bishopcourt, but my last memories of it had been gruesome.
When we pulled up, the mansion looked unchanged. I stared at the pristine lawn and the gray stone walls. “Wow.” He really must’ve thrown a lot of money at the construction company to get this place rebuilt so quickly.
As usual, Andre’s minions opened our doors. I tensed as I left the car. Did they hate me? I shouldn’t have bothered worrying. Their faces were carefully blank, but they also smelled human. Which meant that they weren’t the individuals who would want my head.
Andre came around to me and placed a hand on the small of my back. I had a sneaking suspicion that he simply wanted to be close to me. Unfortunately for me, the simple touch did all sorts of inappropriate things to my body.
We entered the mansion like that. I gazed around me. Everything had been masterfully replicated, down to the staircase I’d bled on and the deadly wrought iron chandelier.
Yet nothing was the same. Different priceless objects sat on display, and the tapestries and paintings that originally hung along the wall had been replaced with others.
Something about that made me immensely sad. Several pieces of art, of history, had burned along with the house, and I’d been partially responsible for it.
Eventually we came to Andre’s office. When I entered, I studied the reconstructed room. It was almost identical to the original.
“You didn’t redesign it!” I said. The last time I’d been in here, Andre has wanted to change up the room. I was surprised that he hadn’t used the fire as the opportunity to do so.
He gazed down at me, still not removing his hand. “You’re right, I didn’t.” He didn’t say that my opinion changed his mind, but his eyes seemed to.
I felt a blush creeping up my neck. I pulled away from him and wandered over to the opposite end of the room, behind his desk. Mounted on the wall was a map of the world. I reached out and touched the canvas.
I glanced over my shoulder at him. He watched me, his look heated. “I’m so glad you didn’t change this,” I said.
His eyes followed me as I moved away from the map and plopped myself in his chair. I swiveled back and forth.
“Why did you call me?”
I stopped swiveling at his question. I’d been avoiding this topic since he met me at my dorm.
“Because I needed to,” I said as he brought a guest chair around the desk and sat down, his knees grazing mine.
Andre leaned forward in his seat, his elbows resting on his knees.
“I work for the Politia.” Andre’s nostrils flared when I said the name. Must be a sore spot. “They placed me on the investigation into the recent murders.”
“They put you on the case?” His eyebrows rose.
“Why is that so hard to believe?” He was about one wrong comment away from pissing me off.
He ran a hand through his hair. “Gabrielle, you’re a teenager. You’re too young to get involved in this stuff.”
“I’m also too young to get involved with you.” That shut him right up.